Children and Underages at the Risk of Trafficking

Victims of trafficking identified in Kosovo belong to under 18 years of age. Of the 36 victims of trafficking, more than 60 percent of them have been identified over the past year by law authorities, are said to be under age.

This data has confirmed Major Fehmi Gjata, director of the Directorate for Human Trafficking Investigations in the Kosovo Police.

Under suspicion of involvement in trafficking with human beings, 202 persons have been arrested, out of whom 31 people have already been identified as traffickers with human beings.

The positive results are obvious, as police have envisioned strategies within their development plan, fighting human trafficking. Reference to estimates, it is considered that trafficking occurs due to the dropout of schooling, difficult economic conditions, and poor parenting”, Gjata says.

According to Dures, the new age of 14 to 18 years dominated the victims.

Even the American State Department (DASH) in the annual human trafficking report has suggested that the Government of Kosovo has not fully met the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, though, according to the report, it is making significant efforts in this direction.

The report stresses that the Government of Kosovo, compared to the previous reporting period, has identified more victims and followed and condemned more traffickers.

On the other hand, Centre for the Protection of Victims and Prevention of Trafficking in People, Hamijete Dedolli told Radio Free Europe that Kosovo is an origian country and destination, when dealing with trafficking. According to her, there is a high percentage of female trafficking aged 14 to 18.

It also stresses that trafficking victims' services are not sustainable, making problem challenges.

Social services and rehabilitation are missing and are not sustainable. Reintegration programmes and rehabilitation are risking extinction in the absence of tools. Programs are expensive, such as commitment, staff, finance, professional training, opening up some small business for victims and others. But the lack of financial means is challenging our work as a center”, says Dedol.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Management, according to Dedol, shared financial means, but which are insufficient, considered the number of victims.

We currently have support from the Ministry of Labour and Social Management, but it is not enough. The number of victims vary, we currently have four victims standing in the center, until during the day they frequent many of them and depending on the need they need, whether they receive services from psychologist, rehabilitation or other”.

“Support, I think it should be increased by the Government, as such projects should not depend on donations, but be stable and supported by the state”, Dudol says.

Even for the Coalition of Organisations for Child Protection, the number of child trafficking victims remains very disturbing, with 18 of the 36 identified cases being children.

They say that according to the US State Department report, the Government of Kosovo does not meet the minimum level of standards for the elimination of trafficking.

The judges, said the report, pronounced soft sentences on convicted traffickers, and prosecutors continued to address trafficking cases as smaller crimes.

But, rule authorities say they have worked hard in preventing human trafficking, specifying the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.

Major Fehmi Gjata says preventative activities remain the priority of the Kosovo Police.

The efficiency and effectiveness of the Kosovo Police has increased, based on statistics on the identification and prosecution of criminal cases and sending to the Prosecutor with criminal defamatory”, Gjata says.

Whatever the case, fighting the trafficking phenomenon is believed to intensify if Kosovo Police were a member of international security mechanisms, such as INTERPOL and EUROOPOL.